• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Hard times hit roadside corn, yam, plantain roasters

Roast corn

Before the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, many Nigerians were used to enjoying roasted corn, yam, and plantain popularly known as ‘boli’, which served as both food and snacks for many Nigerians that want to abstain from eating junk foods.

This was such that some rich people and middle-class Nigerians living in the city of Lagos used to personally drive to some popular spots especially areas like Murtala Mohammed International Airport Road in Lagos, where fresh corns and sweet pear combo are sold in their numbers, to buy.

Not only that the snacks provided some form of satisfaction to many city dwellers, they also provided a source of livelihood for women that choose the business line. But with the outbreak of coronavirus, many people have since bid good bye to eating such snacks.

This has since impacted negatively on the revenue of the roasters and by implication affected the living standard in their homes.

In Lagos State, for instance, a lot of women operating in the informal sector are their families’ breadwinners. Not only that they provide food for their families, they also take care of house rent, school fees and hospital bills.

Today, many of them are no longer in business while those who have braced the odds lament the hopelessness of the situation especially in the highbrow areas of Apapa, Victoria Island, Lekki and Ajah where the rich and mighty dwell.

Some of them say that despite the difficulty in getting the items- corn, yam and plantain, the saddest of it all is the low patronage from the public.

“We have managed to remain in business because there is no alternative. When you look at your family, especially for some of us our husbands are not working or those whose husbands have died, we have no choice. It pains so much when you see some customers who used to buy one thing or the other from you every evening when they are coming back from work, now passing without looking at your side,” a woman who sells roasted corn told BDSUNDAY.

According to the woman, who does not want her name in the print, “Sometimes, when you call them they look at you as if to say, ‘abi this person doesn’t know what is in town?’ They believe as we are touching the corn, yam or plantain while roasting them that we are spreading coronavirus on them.”

Another roadside seller of roasted yam and plantain in Apapa area of Lagos State, who gave her name as Mama Ejima, told BDSUNDAY that business has been slow since the outbreak of COVID-19.

“First, it was the lockdown that kept everybody at home without business, now that lockdown is over, customers rarely patronise us such that I find it difficult to earn N2,000 in a day from my daily sales,” Mama Ejima said.

According to her, when business was good, she used to go home with about N7,000 or N8,000 a day and when there is no good business, she could go home with N5,000 per day.

“It was through this same business of roasting plantain and yam that I was able to see my first three children through school after my husband passed away. Though, the business may look small but it has been sustaining my children and me for over 10 years now. Apart from paying their school fees, I also pay house rent in the one room apartment where we stay in Ajegunle area of Olodi-Apapa,” she said.

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While expressing hope that business will pick up in no distance time, she said that it would be very difficult for her to even pay school fees of her two children that are still in secondary school, if school reopens and things remain the same.

“I have left the business of corn roasting to selling fruits now. I was among those who started roasting corn this season but I realised that market was not moving at all such that, I that used to sell two bags of roasted and boiled corn everyday barely finished one bag in one day,” said a woman who used to roast corn in Surulere area of Lagos, who gave her name as Iyah Yusuf.

Iyah Yusuf, stated that after losing her capital in the corn business, she was forced to change into selling other seasonal fruits like garden eggs and others,

“I really don’t know what happened to the business that I used to enjoy doing because it used to be very lucrative at least, it used to put food on our table and cater for the needs of my family since my husband has been out of serious job in the last three years,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ejike Amadi, a banker told our correspondent that he and his family have kissed roasted corn and ‘boli’ good bye till Nigeria is declared Covid-19-free.

“I personally don’t like roadside foods like roasted plantain and corn due to the infections that can be transmitted to someone through eating such food especially those roasted in dirty environment and on top of drainages. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, I pay serious attention to where I buy such things but now I have even told my wife that nobody should bring roasted corn or plantain into my house again till further notice,” Amadi said.

Amadi, who stated that he will not use his money to buy coronavirus, said that if he wants to eat corn, he can go to the market, buy and come home to cook it himself in order for him to be sure of what he is eating.

“My concern about such things is that buyers usually go to the sellers and continue to touch several of them before they could make their pick, with such touching, the virus and other infections must have transmitted into the food even before one eats them. I pity those women that are into such business but there is nothing one can do until Nigeria is declared COVID-19 free, I will not patronise roadside food sellers,” Amadi said.

Contrarily, another roadside corn roaster, who gave her name as Blessing said that her business has been going on normally without any issue since the season of corn roasting started.

According to her, customers still come to her shop to buy from her since the season of corn and pear came out.

“For me nothing has changed. In a day, I buy and sell a big of corn as well as a basket of pear. Some people prefer boiled corn, so what I do is to cook some and roast others. In this part of Nigeria, people don’t believe that COVID-19 is real. They believe that it is big men sickness,” Blessing, who sells her roasted corn and pear in Iyana-Ipaja area of Lagos, stated.